Thanks To Our Spring Break Volunteers!

For many, Spring Break conjures images of wild beach parties and road trips. However, not all choose to spend their time off from school with such activities. The Humanitarian Service Project would like to take this opportunity to thank each of the wonderfully altruistic students and their dedicated families for spending their precious vacation time with us through their generous act of community service and volunteering.

Many of the students spent the week with us by wrapping gifts that will go into special birthday boxes, which will be distributed to needy children in the community as part of our Children’s Birthday Project. Others lent their labor and showed their support of our Senior Citizen Project and Feed the Kids Programs by sorting food products in our warehouse, which will go into monthly food parcels for these disadvantaged recipients.

Irrespective of task, each volunteer demonstrated a commitment to the values and goals of our organization of love and service by donating their time and effort. To all HSP volunteers, we wish to reiterate our sincere appreciation for all the assistance you provide! A special thank you to all Spring Break volunteers this year!

The Humanitarian Service Project is always seeking energetic, interested volunteers for participation in our programs that serve the needy in DuPage and Kane Counties, including the Children’s Birthday Project, Senior Citizen Project, and our Feed the Kids Project. If you would be interested in helping HSP provide support for the needy in our community, you can learn how from our website: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/index.html.

A Senior Says Thanks

Recently, we at the Humanitarian Service Project have received a number of letters from the needy seniors served by our project letting us know how thankful they are, and how much being in the project has improved their lives. We wanted to share their words with all of you, because, as friends of HSP, it is only through your support that HSP is able to reach these seniors with the food and other supplies they desperately need.

Many of the letters we get from seniors are directed at particular volunteers who help HSP, in a number of ways, and make our Senior Citizen Project possible. In one such letter that we received earlier this week, Regina, a senior served by our program, wanted to express her thanks to a number of such people. Specifically she wanted to thank her Secret Pal, who provides a small gift for her each month, for “the wonderful words and gifts [she] has sent,” as well as her regular driver, who delivers the 90 pounds of food and goods HSP provides to her every month. She also expressed her thanks for a set of dishes she received this past month, which she desperately needed. Of course, without our thoughtful donors and volunteers, HSP would not be able to provide Regina with these dishes, much less the 90 pounds of nutritious food, paper products, and other necessities she receives every month through being part of our project. For this reason, we at HSP want to join Regina, and all of the needy people we serve, to thank those who help support HSP in making a difference in the lives of those in need in our community.

As evidenced by the number of people included in our senior Regina’s recent thank you, there are so many people who, in so many different ways, help HSP reach out to needy senior citizens. There are the aforementioned secret pals, and delivery drivers, but also people who cook and deliver meals to seniors on a monthly basis, people who sort food for seniors in HSP’s warehouse, those who organize and donate food and paper drives, and people who assist in the organization of the secret pal program, just to name a few. If you would be interested in joining these wonderful people in helping HSP provide support for needy senior citizens, you can learn how from our website: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/index.html.

St. Isidore’s Religious Ed. And Bartlett Park District Preschool Make Dinosaur-sized Donations

Humanitarian Service Project would like to extend a big thank you to two very special groups of young students who made donations to help HSP reach the needy senior citizens and children served by our projects. Donations from the Kindergarten and 1^st Grade class from the Religious Education program at St. Isidore’s Parish in Bloomingdale and the children from the Bartlett Park District Preschool came in yesterday. Both groups of students clearly put a lot of effort in thinking of creative ways to fulfill the needs of the children and seniors we serve. We want to thank these groups of wonderful, young children for their thoughtful gifts.

The first donation that came in yesterday was from the Kindergarteners and 1^st graders in St. Isidore’s Parish’s Religious Ed program. These children collected 9 large boxes full of both party and art supplies to give needy children some fun surprises on their birthdays. Vera Zielinski from St. Isidore’s Parish, who dropped the donation off at our center, said “the children at the parish are constantly doing service every session.” Some of the kids collected the items themselves, and some raised money to purchase the supplies. Vera said everybody at St. Isidore’s was happy to get behind the donation, because part of their mission is to “teach the children the importance of service.”

The second great donation that came in yesterday was from the Bartlett Park District Preschool. These preschoolers managed to collect 115 boxes of Kleenex for the needy senior citizens in our senior citizen project. Karyn Rizzo, from the preschool, said they did something very fun with the Kleenex as they were collecting them; the children used the boxes in activity to learn the measurements of dinosaurs. By our count, 115 of the standard 8.4 inch long Kleenex boxes measures 80.5 feet. For a little Cretaceous Period reference, Sue, the adult Tyrannosaurus Rex at the field museum in Chicago is a little over 40 feet long. Using these measurements, the Bartlett Park District preschoolers managed to donate two T-Rexes worth of Kleenex!

Again, we want to thank these wonderful groups of children for helping HSP reach out to needy members of the community. If you are interested in helping HSP make a difference in the lives of senior citizens or children in need, like these children did, please call us at 630-221-8340.

Join HSP and The Human Race

The Humanitarian Service Project is looking for volunteers willing to run (or walk) for a good cause, as representatives for HSP at the inaugural DuPage Human Race. The Human Race is a 5K fitness run/ 2 mile walk in which runners raise pledges for their favorite local charities, and is open to all ages. We are currently looking for people willing to participate in the event for HSP. The funds raised by our participants in the race will go directly to helping HSP reach the needy children and senior citizens served through HSP’s programs. If you can’t run, you can still raise funds for those who are.

Physicians suggest that cardiovascular exercise, like walking and running, not only has profoundly positive physical effects, but also elevates mood. Through experience, we at HSP know that the same mood benefits can be felt after doing something to help those in need. When the opportunity to presented itself to allow our supporters to do both at the same time, through the Human Race, we thought it was a win-win.

The event will be on April 21, 2012, the final day of National Volunteer Week. It will take place at the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County Headquarters/ Danada Forest Preserve. The Race will begin at 9:00 a.m. behind the Headquarters building on the west side of Naperville Road, north of Warrenville and south of Butterfield.

For more information and to sign up, visit www.dupagehumanrace.org or Active.com. Please send us an email at hsp@humanitarianservice.org to tell us you registered.

Girl Scout Troop 1420 Sees Their Generosity Through

Last Friday, Humanitarian Service Project had some very special guests at our center in Carol Stream. Six Daisies and Scouts from Girl Scout Troop 1420 in Plainfield visited HSP, bringing nine bags of wonderful toys for the needy children served by our Children’s Birthday Project. The girls also donated a portion of the money made from their cookie sales to the project as well. We think it is great to see such young girls showing a resolve to reach out to help needy children their own age. We want to thank them for their fantastic donation.

While the scouts from Troop 1420 were visiting, HSP Assistant Director, Kristin Maxwell, took them on a tour to teach them how the toys and money they donated would be used by HSP to help the needy. Kristin commented how happy she was that the girls were “very engaged and interested in learning about the Children’s Birthday Project.” The girls asked great questions, and were very excited that the donations they made would go to make needy children happy on their birthdays. Kristin said this great Girl Scout Troop “shows that people, no matter how young, can understand and appreciate the importance of giving.” We were happy to have these girls from Troop 1420 visit, and we want to thank them again for their donation. If you would be interested in helping the needy children HSP serves, like these girls did, you can learn more information at our website: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/getinvolved/index.html.

Wonderful Things Happening at Lake Park Elementary

As a lot of you may already know, Humanitarian Service Project recently adopted the needy students as Lake Park Elementary in Addison into our Children’s Birthday Project. Our relationship with Lake Park Elementary began with our Christmas Offering last December, when the overwhelming support of the friends of HSP allowed us to provide gifts for every single child at the school. Since then, we’ve officially been able to take the 329 needy children at the school into our project to provide them with gifts, books, school supplies, and party supplies to help make their birthdays special. We have been very excited at HSP to be able to assist the needy children at Lake Park Elementary, because we know how great of a need there is there. 88% of Lake Park’s students come from families with incomes low enough that they receive subsidized school lunch.

Yesterday, HSP’s interns Tawney and Regina Pauling attended an assembly at Lake Park Elementary about HSP’s partnership with them. At the assembly, Lake Park Principal Deb Martello announced a new contest at the school for children with excellent school pride, academics, or behavior. These students will be given an opportunity to win one of eleven bicycles donated to the school by HSP. Tawney and Regina commented how wonderful it was to see the bikes donated from HSP to be used in such a wonderful way, to reach children who are both needy, but who display love and respect to their classmates, teachers, and school. Regina commented that many of the students “lit up” at the mention of the bikes and birthday boxes, and it was clear that they were very excited about the program. We want to thank all of our friends and supporters who have made it possible for HSP to adopt Lake Park Elementary into our project. With your help, we have been able to make a positive impact in the lives so many needy children.

Generous Donors Help Seniors Cover Rocky Times With Plentiful Paper

At the Humanitarian Service Project part of our mission is to provide needy senior citizens with the items necessary to live healthy lives. With their small incomes stretched by necessities like medication and rent, the needy seniors served by our project often cannot afford much needed, practical items to maintain a comfortable lifestyle. Paper products such as Kleenex, toilet paper, and paper towels are some such items that many of these seniors must sacrifice because of other expenses. Recently, we have had many wonderful groups mobilize to fill this need in the lives of these needy seniors. We want to thank three different groups that all made donations of much needed paper products yesterday and today: the Carol Stream Women’s Club, Cub Scout Pack 191 out of Heritage Lakes Elementary in Carol Stream, and West Suburban Alpha Sigma Alpha. We want to thank each for helping HSP reach the seniors we serve with these necessary items.

Every year, HSP delivers 8,064 rolls of toilet paper, 2,688 rolls of paper towels, and 2,688 boxes of facial tissue, in order to provide for the seniors in our project. These wonderful donations from the Carol Stream Women’s Club, Cub Scout Pack 191, and West Suburban Alpha Sigma Alpha, will empower us to continue to reach these needy seniors with the paper products they desperately need. If you would be interested in helping a needy senior like these generous groups did, please call us at 630-221-8340 to let us know.

AutoTrader’s Service Draws a Crowd

Many visitors to our center in Carol Stream came in today marveling about how full the parking lot was. Our full house today was thanks to a wonderful group of 13 volunteers from AutoTrader.com, who spent several hours in our warehouse wrapping gifts for the needy children in our Children’s Birthday Project. The group volunteered their time as part of a company “service day” to give back to the community, and give they did. The group completely wrapped gifts for over twenty needy children served by our project, to grant them big smiles on their birthday.

This fantastic group from AutoTrader.com really went above and beyond, not only volunteering their time, but also donating a large amount of wrapping paper and over two dozen toys as well. They even helped us begin setting up our warehouse to prepare for our monthly delivery day to the needy senior citizens we serve, which is this upcoming Saturday. We want to thank these magnificent volunteers, not just for all the service they did and the donations they made, but also for their caring hearts and their desire to assist HSP in our mission to reach out to the needy children and senior citizens we serve. We were so delighted to see how strongly these volunteers from AutoTrader.com mobilized for such a good cause.

A Spring Donation!

This past Thursday United Stationers, an office supply wholesaler, made a large donation to HSP. Their donation to HSP included two pallets of school supplies, two pallets of copy paper, one pallet of paper products (such as toilet paper and napkins) and one pallet of hand sanitizer! United Stationers have a product line of about 100,000 items from approximately 1,000 manufacturers and provide different technology products, traditional office products, office furniture, janitorial/break room supplies and industrial products to their variety of customers.

We here at HSP would like to give a hearty thank you to United Stationers for their very generous donation! These items will be of great use for our Children’s Birthday project and the Senior Citizen Project.

If you or someone you know would be interested in making a donation to HSP please feel free to contact us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org or call 630-221-8340. We are currently in need of paper products such as toilet paper, napkins, facial tissue and non-perishable food items for our upcoming Feed the Kids project.

A Perfect Springtime Gift

Spring doesn’t officially start until tomorrow, but, with the weather being the way it has been, it feels as though spring has been in full swing for some time now. We recently received a wonderful donation to spread the spring spirit to the needy children in our Children’s Birthday Project. Longtime friend of Humanitarian Service Project, Pam Anderson, brought in 46 Easter baskets last week for the needy children we serve. These wonderful baskets each contain a beanie baby and lots of yummy candy. We’ve had a number of children who’ve come to our center in Carol Stream with their families to pick up birthday boxes recently, and their faces lit up when they received these beautiful baskets. We want to thank Pam, and those who helped her with the baskets, for such a thoughtful gift to the needy children served by HSP.

These marvelous Easter baskets have helped us bring smiles to the children in our Children’s Birthday Project. The children and senior citizens that we serve through our programs at HSP, all come from very needy economic situations, and don’t have the resources to afford necessities or other items to make life easier. Thankfully, we’ve had many heartfelt donations from our wonderful supporters like Pam, who have helped us reach out and fulfill the needs of the needy people we serve. If you have an item, or an idea for a donation, to help make life easier or more enjoyable for the children or seniors served by our programs, please call us at 630-221-8340.

Happy St. Larry’s Day

We at the Humanitarian Service Project had a wonderful start to the weekend when we were able to celebrate a much loved volunteer’s birthday. Larry Erven’s birthday is on St. Patrick’s Day and here at HSP he is one of the saints in our family of volunteers. Larry and his wife Evelyn have been volunteering at HSP for 5 years and are very committed to the project, donating tremendous energy and time helping others. Larry and Evelyn’s main focus is in the library room, sorting books by age and gender and ensuring that the 900 children enrolled in the Children’s Birthday Project receive 5-7 books picked especially for them. They also organize all of the Christmas themed books through the year enabling all of the children in the Christmas Project to receive books with their Christmas presents.

Larry is in the center, his wife Evelyn is on the left and the HSP staff

Larry is huge supporter of Feed the Kids, working on the dock through the hot weather, greeting families and loading cars with a month’s supply of food. He also makes special deliveries for us and drives to make pickups when HSP has special needs.

Larry is always ready to help when we need the support and we are truly grateful for all that he and Evelyn do. We also enjoy seeing the beautiful photos of their trips and hearing of their far off adventures. We could not service the children and families without his generous support and we look forward to many more years of enjoying the time we get to spend together working to better the lives of other people.

Birthday Girl Shares Birthday Joy

One thing we’ve learned at the Humanitarian Service Project is that there is no minimum age for thoughtfulness and generosity. The desire to reach out and help those in need can inspire people in any stage or walk of life. That is certainly the case for Addison White, a special guest we had at HSP yesterday afternoon, who can count her age on one hand. For her 5^th birthday party recently, Addison and her mother Jill White, asked guests not to bring gifts for her, but to instead bring art and craft supplies for the needy children served by HSP’s Children’s Birthday Project. Addison is clearly a very popular girl, because the donated items from her friends and family filled 10 bags and a large box full of wonderful items such as, paint, coloring books, clay, and craft kits. Thanks to Addison’s generosity, a number of needy children will surely get extra smiles on their birthdays! (Above: Addison with the art supplies her and her party guests donated to HSP.)

We at HSP believe every child deserves to have a special birthday. However, birthdays can be very expensive for needy families with their income going to necessities like food and rent. We want to thank Addison, her mother Jill, and everyone who contributed at Addison’s birthday party, for helping us spread birthday joy to the needy children we serve. If you too, would like to help HSP reach out to these children, please see our website for more information: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/whatwedo/bdayproject.html.

Lake Park Elementary Excitedly Receives Birthday Boxes

Today was an exciting day at the Humanitarian Service Project, as another load of birthday boxes (full of toys, books, school supplies, and party supplies) for the needy children at Lake Park Elementary in Addison was delivered from our center in Carol Stream to the school. As many of you may know, HSP was able to provide Christmas gifts for every child at Lake Park Elementary during our Christmas Offering last December. We recently enrolled 329 needy students from the school into our Children’s Birthday Project. We are very happy to be able to reach out to the children at Lake Park Elementary, because there is so much need there. 88% percent of the students at the school are from families with low enough income that they receive subsidized school lunch. (above: Our volunteer driver Rich Patera with the van load of gifts for the students at Lake Park Elementary.)

Rich Patera, our volunteer van driver who picked up and delivered the boxes to Lake Park today, said he received a very warm welcome at the school. He says Deb Martello, the principal of Lake Park Elementary, was ecstatic to see the birthday boxes prepared for the students with late March and early April birthdays. We are thrilled to be able to provide these boxes to make birthdays special for these needy children. There have been a lot of people involved in making this a reality. We want to thank Rich for delivering the boxes, all of our volunteer wrappers who have really mobilized to make the addition of the Lake Park Elementary students into our project go smoothly, and of course all the other sponsors and supporters of HSP who make our Children’s Birthday Project a success. If you would be interested in supporting this project, a sponsorship of $54 provides a needy child with a 20 pound box full of toys, activities, books, and more, for their birthday. Please call us at 630-221-8340 for more information.

New Additions!

In an effort to gear up for summer, we are pleased to announce that we have acquired seven new interns to help with our various projects. Interns are a vital part of the HSP team as they work hard in all areas of the organization. Our summer interns will be providing support in marketing, public relations, grant writing, and other general duties including working in the Meal of the Month program.

This summer we would like to welcome Sarah Olson and Samantha Isdale who will be working on public relations and concentrating on marketing will be Jennifer Leverenz. Accounting, which is vital to sustaining our charity, will be handled by Brian Jensen and our Meal of the Month program will be supported by Kate Borromeo. Vernie Wong and Morgan Smith will be working on other general and administrative duties throughout the summer. We here at HSP would like to extend a warm welcome to all our new interns!

If you or someone you know would be interested in interning at HSP please contact us at (630) 221-8340 or email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org.

Thank You Naperville Covenant Church!

Humanitarian Service Project would like to extend our deepest thanks to the youth at Naperville Covenant Church for wrapping a whopping ten bags full of gifts for the needy children in our children’s birthday project. The group wrapped the gifts as a service project while they were participating in a “30 hour famine,” a program designed to spread awareness about hunger, in which these youth fasted for 30 hours. While they were fasting on Friday into Saturday, the youth at Naperville Covenant wrapped the gifts and learned about HSP’s programs to combat hunger and poverty from our speaker team member Christine Potthoff.

Diane Shiflett, the Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Naperville Covenant Church, said she was happy to get the youth group involved with HSP in order to teach them about the importance of service. We likewise, are delighted to have their assistance in helping reach out to those affected by poverty and hunger in our community. We want to thank them for their hard work and their thoughtfulness.

Mac 'n Cheese with a Musical Twist!

Today HSP received a very entertaining donation from Congregation Etz Chaim. A thriving center of Reform Judaism, they play an active role in the community and have had a successful relationship with HSP for almost ten years now. They recently held a service Wednesday March 7th with a musical twist in which they used macaroni and cheese boxes as noisemakers. After the service was over, the organization donated five large garbage bags full of boxed macaroni and cheese to the HSP food drive. This donation along with other food donations will be used in the Feed The Kids Project this summer. All of us here at HSP would like to thank members of the Congregation Etz Chaim for their kind and generous donation!

If you or someone you know is looking to get involved with your community, then contact us! We are currently looking for food donations for our Feed the Kids Project that serves over 300 children in 100 families in Kane and Dupage counties. If interested please contact us at (630) 221-8340 or email us at hsp@humanitarianservice.org.

Become a Senior's Secret Pal

We at the Humanitarian Service Project are committed to making sure the needy senior citizens served by our project do not have to face the challenges that aging and poverty bring, all on their own. With their limited resources being stretched under rising healthcare costs, rent, and other important expenses, HSP’s Senior Citizen Project is designed to make sure the seniors in our program have their needs met. Our monthly deliveries of 90 pounds of much needed groceries (including fresh fruits and vegetables, frozen meats, bread, non-perishables, and paper products) go to make sure the seniors are getting the nourishment they need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. However, another issue the needy seniors in our project often face is the loneliness and isolation that their circumstances often bring. This is where HSP’s “secret pals” enter in the equation. Each month, our secret pal donors buy a small gift, between $5 and $25. The gifts not only provide seniors with items that they are in need of and are unable to procure for themselves, but, more importantly, the gift shows the senior that they are cared for.


The secret pals in our program have all made a marvelous impact in the lives of the needy seniors we serve. One senior wrote to her secret pal, “You’re an angel, a star, a blessing.” We currently have several seniors who have not yet been matched up with secret pals to be their angel, star, and blessing. If this sounds like a way you would be interested in helping HSP reach out to a needy senior, please consider becoming a secret pal. Please call us at 630-221-8340 with questions or to sign up.

“Win-Win” Service

For the past couple of weeks, Humanitarian Service Project has been delighted to host several students from College of DuPage who are completing their community service hours for the college’s “service learning program.” The program is designed to give the students outside the classroom experience through projects that serve the community. College of DuPage characterizes the program as a “win-win” which allows the student to both help others, as well as personally grow both academically and as a member of the community. As a community partner of this program, we at HSP are big fans, as we get to see this “win-win” scenario in action. We have had wonderful service learning students in the past, and the current group of seven students has been doing great as well. (Above: Shabnam, a student in COD’s service learning program, assisting in HSP’s toy room.)

HSP’s Assistant Director, Kristin Maxwell, who has been supervising the service learning students, mentioned what an “excellent job” they have all been doing. The service learning students have contributed to both our Children’s Birthday Project and Senior Citizen Project in a number of different ways. They have assisted in every step of the birthday box creation process for the needy children that we serve, including; sorting gifts, creating activity kits, wrapping presents, and organizing our shipping room. They have also been involved in helping HSP reach out to needy senior citizens by assisting in the preparation and execution of our senior delivery day last month. The service learning students have been doing excellent work, and their help has enabled HSP to reach many children and senior citizens in need.

Wrapping Paper Needed

          Today may be unseasonably warm for March, but we at the Humanitarian Service Project are already thinking ahead to the even warmer months. With the recent addition of 329 needy children from Lake Park Elementary in Addison into our Children’s Birthday Project, we at HSP have been mobilizing to make more and more birthday boxes. With the end of the school year only a few months away, HSP’s staff and volunteers have been working hard to get a leg up on the gifts for the children at Lake Park, not only with birthdays in springtime, but in the summer as well.

          One way you can help is a donation of wrapping paper. Generally, most of the gifts which go out to the needy children served by our program are wrapped by our volunteer wrappers, who pick up the gifts at our center in Carol Stream, wrap the gifts using their own wrapping paper and ribbon, and return them in a few weeks. However, recently, in order to make the recent expansion of the project a reality, we’ve wrapped a number of presents at HSP as well. In order to keep this pace going, we could certainly use more wrapping paper and ribbon to wrap the gifts. If you would like to contribute to HSP’s goal of providing needy children with plenty of birthday smiles, please consider donating wrapping paper or ribbon. You can learn more about our Children’s Birthday Project from our website at: http://www.humanitarianservice.org/whatwedo/bdayproject.html, or call us with questions at 630-221-8340.

Paper Products Needed!

The impoverished seniors in our program often have to make tough decisions regarding where the little money they receive goes. With the cost of rent, medication, and other important expenses, many seniors have to go without many items necessary to maintain a comfortable lifestyle. At the Humanitarian Service Project, it is part of our mission to help provide the needy seniors in our project with these items. Every month, HSP delivers over 90 pounds of groceries to each of our seniors including fresh produce, frozen meats, bread, non-perishable food, a small gift from their “secret pal,” and paper products to make sure they have access to healthy food and their needs are met.

In order to reach all of the needy seniors in our project with these items, many of HSP’s wonderful supporters have contributed in the past. One thing that we have a specific need for is paper goods, particularly facial tissue. Every year, HSP sends out 8,064 rolls of toilet paper, 2,688 rolls of paper towels, and 2,688 boxes of facial tissue, in order to provide our seniors with what they need to maintain a comfortable lifestyle. If you, or a group you belong to, would be interested in helping needy senior citizens, a donation of paper goods would be both a thoughtful and practical way to lend a hand. Please call us at 630-221-8340 with any questions.

Monthly Meals Spotlight

We at the Humanitarian Service Project would like to put the spotlight on some very special local restaurants that are participating in our Monthly Meals Program! These establishments are donating hot and hearty meals to needy seniors in our program and are helping us to start the month of March off with a bang! Thank you all for your generous contributions to our project! Because of you we will be able to supply our seniors with a hearty and hot treat!

Village Tavern (Carol Stream)

Olive Garden (Bloomingdale)

Culvers (Carol Stream)

Applebee’s (Bloomingdale)

If you would be interested in picking up a donated meal from one of the restaurants listed above and delivering it to a needy senior living in DuPage Co. please do not hesitate to contact us! We would love to be able to get these meals to those most in need! Not only does it provide our seniors with a hot meal, but it also helps show them that there are individuals in the community that still care!

Thank you again to the restaurants, the seniors in our program truly appreciate the hot meals that are you provide for them!

Springing into Service

The vernal equinox (the first official day of spring) may still be a couple of weeks away, but today marks the beginning of meteorological spring, the time when weather patterns generally shift away from winter weather and towards spring weather. The idea of spring weather is sure to illicit a number of different images in the people’s minds, but the thought of blooming flowers is probably one of the most accepted symbols of spring. The sight of flowers revealing their petals after the long winter can certainly be a soothing sight. The Lombard Garden Club seems to agree with us, because just yesterday they made a wonderful donation of 48 baskets of artificial flower arrangements to help the needy seniors in our Senior Citizen Project ring in the spring. These baskets are quite striking, and will surely bring smiles to the faces of the needy seniors in our program. We want to thank the Lombard Garden Club for this beautiful donation.

The baskets were dropped off at our center in Carol Stream yesterday by Lombard Garden Club co-president Cher Herlache. According to Cher, the club has been making these baskets for needy seniors as a service project for a number of years. This year, the club decided to donate them to HSP after learning about our program. If you too would be interested in brightening the day of a needy senior or child with a donation, like this fantastic one from the Lombard Garden Club, please call us at 630-221-8340.